Henry Chavez IV and wife Lisa walk the Kealia Coastal Boardwalk with sons Robert, 15, (right) and Henry Chavez V, 17, on June 13 while paying a visit to Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge. The family from Anaheim, Calif., has been vacationing on Maui for years. “We’ve made it a family tradition for 10 years,” Lisa Chavez said. “We come at least once a year.” They said they particularly enjoy the island’s “slower pace” and “wonderful food.” The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

For a second month in a row, visitor arrivals to the Valley Isle fell below both last year’s numbers and pre-pandemic levels, as Mainland visitor arrivals showed “signs of slowing,” according to preliminary statistics released last week.

In May, there were 240,407 visitors to Maui, down 2.8 percent compared to May 2022 when there were 247,280 visitors, and down 4.5 percent versus May 2019 when there were 251,665 visitors, according to the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

But spending was up — in keeping with trends of previous months — as visitors to Maui in May spent $523.9 million, which is up 15.3 percent versus May 2022 when visitors spent $454.3 million and up 30.8 percent compared to the $400.4 million that visitors spent in May 2019.

Even with slightly lower numbers of visitors in April and May, Maui is still outpacing its visitor arrival totals compared to last year, due to a busy winter and early spring travel season — arrivals in January, for example, were nearly 25 percent higher than the year before.

Overall, for the first five months of this year, there have been approximately 1.21 million visitors to Maui, up 8.2 percent compared to the same period in 2022, which had approximately 1.12 million visitors. But this year’s figures are 1.4 percent lower than the approximately 1.23 million visitors seen in the first five months of 2019.

Total spending among visitors to Maui in the first five months of this year has reached $2.85 billion, up 27.6 percent compared to the $2.24 billion spent in the same period in 2022, and up 34 percent versus the $2.13 billion spent in the first five months of 2019.

Statewide, DBEDT said 801,569 visitors arrived in the islands in May, a 3.2 percent increase from May 2022, when there were 776,375 visitors. When compared to 2019, this represents a 94.6 percent recovery in total visitor arrivals from May 2019, when there were 847,396 visitors statewide.

“Though visitor arrivals from the U.S. mainland have shown signs of slowing down in the last two months, the May 2023 U.S. visitor arrivals were still 10.7 percent higher than the same month in 2019,” DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said in a news release. “May 2023 marked the 25th consecutive month where visitor arrivals from the U.S. mainland exceeded 2019 monthly levels for those respective months.”

Tokioka said that the recovery of international visitors “has been stagnant between 50 and 60 percent during the past 10 months.”

Recovery of international visitors in May of this year was at 56.5 percent of the May 2019 level.

Canadian arrivals in May were at 87.7 percent of the May 2019 level, while Japanese arrivals were at 30.2 percent.

“The main reason for the sluggish international recovery is the unfavorable exchange rate of foreign currency to the U.S. dollar,” Tokioka said.

Tourism and economic officials have said Maui and Kauai tend to be more dependent on U.S. visitors, while Oahu and Hawaii island have been more popular markets for international visitors.

The only Hawaiian island breaking pre-pandemic levels in visitor arrivals in May was Kauai, which saw 115,466 visitors, up 0.2 percent versus May 2022, when there were 115,243 visitors, and up 3 percent compared to May 2019, which had 112,106 visitors.

In May, Oahu saw 451,991 visitors, up 8.6 percent versus May 2022, when there were 416,091 visitors, but down 11 percent compared to the 508,088 visitors seen in May 2019.

Hawaii island saw 136,306 visitors in May, down 2.6 percent compared to May 2022, when there were 139,953 visitors, and down 2.4 percent versus May 2019, which had 139,696 visitors.

* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.